


Rising, Rising

by ACrazyEngineer



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Aura!Ash, Crossposted from Fanfiction.net, Drabble, Fem!Ash - Freeform, female!Ash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-08 02:25:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7739845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ACrazyEngineer/pseuds/ACrazyEngineer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After being forbidden to to become a Pokemon trainer at age 6, then losing her right eye at 8, Ash knew she never had the best of luck. But that didn’t matter now: at 16, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity has presented itself and she’ll be damned if anyone stands in her way this time. And so she'll rise above all those who try to keep her down, no matter what.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 000.1

** **

**000.1, 9 years prior, age 6:  
**

* * *

" _Woah_ ," the child whispered out in wonder, leaning closer to the TV screen.

Bright blue eyes sparkled with childlike curiosity at the sight in front of them. Although fitting, as she was a child. And children were always amazed by the sight of a Pokemon battle, especially their first Pokemon battle.

Even by the age of 6, Ash Ketchum had never seen such a thing before in her life. In fact, the only reason why she was seeing such a thing was because she had disobeyed her mom's order to never watch this particular channel. (While there were other ones Mom had told her to not watch, it was the only one where Ash had never been told why...)

When the black-haired child heard the lock of the front door sliding open, her small hand quickly shut off the TV. She jumped up and ran to the center of the room, trying to put as much distance between her and the offending object.

When her mom walked through the doorway, holding paper bags of groceries in her hand, Ash tried not to look guilty of breaking one of the few rules her mom made her promise not to break. "Hey, Momma," she greeted, rocking on her heels.

"Hello sweetie." Her mom responded, placing down the bags and swooping in her daughter of a hug. She placed a kiss on the top of her head, before setting her daughter down. "How are you doing?"

"Good," the child responded, "thinkin' about reading a book, so I'll be in my room, kay?" Even at age 6, Ash liked to read -mostly fiction- so it was a passable excuse. Her mother smiled down, thinking that her behavior was a little odd, but went ahead and replied. "Sure, but be down for dinner."

Ash nodded happily, with a smile on her face, and bounced up the stairs to her bedroom, hoping her mother wouldn't discover what she had just done. She picked up a book, just like she said, and sit down, just in case her mom decided to come up latter.

Back downstairs, Delia frowned, moving the bags to the kitchen. Gazing back into the living room, she looked over what might have caused her daughter to act off. Immediately, her gaze zeroed onto the TV. She placed her hand on the back of the box, feeling the heat roll off. It was on recently.

After flipping the switch, watching as the screen flickered to light, she frowned again, then promptly turned it off. She sighed heavily, her demeanor turning sad.

"She reminds me of you more and more everyday." Delia muttered. She walked away, but never mentioned what she found to her daughter that night.


	2. 000.2

** **

**000.2, 8 years prior, age 7**

* * *

"How was school?"

"It was okay."

Ash set her backpack against the wall of the entryway, stumbling to the couch in the living room. She had to detour her whole route home just to avoid _Gary_. Her "arch-nemesis," like the ones in the stories.

He was mean, always teasing her about her wild and unruly black hair that could barely be tamed by a brush on the best of days. It didn't bother her as much as he would have liked, so he was relentless about it, along with calling her a nerd for reading books.

But today, he was different.

While going about his time trying to mess with her head, Gary threw a new insult into the fray.

"I'm going to become Champion, unlike you who's never even see a Pokemon."

That was statement was untrue- at least the second part was, and at first it didn't really even make sense. Of course she had seen Pokemon: they were all around her! But she had never heard of being a "Champion," quite in that context before.

And being the curious, book reading, school attending child she was, Ash went to the school library at lunch. After flipping through the library cards, looking under subject, and finding "Champion," did she discover what it was.

It was an amazing prospect: going on an adventure, out into the world, and becoming the best Pokemon trainer there ever was! (Another thing: the idea of being a Pokemon trainer? _Awesome_.) She couldn't believe she had been missing out!

The first thing Ash was going to have to do, if she wanted to try anything of the sort, was to tell her mom. You needed parental permission if you were going to leave home at age 10, after all.

At home, the blue eyed child fell to the comforts of the couch, landing with a light "omph!"

From the kitchen, her mother inquired: "what did you learn today?"

Ash's face scrunched up in distaste. Although she like to learn new things, she really hated school. And school work. Mostly school work. But she responded anyways: "some stuff about the weather."

"Mhmm, anything else?"

"Uhh, no?" She hadn't really paid attention after that. Not after lunch.

" _Ash,_ " her mother sounded exasperated. To be fair, many days, before lunch was the only time she paid attention. Otherwise her head was buzzing with imagination from reading during her free lunch time, like it was today.

The aforementioned child started to defend herself. "Some kids were talking about what they wanted to do when they grew up" -well more implied- "and one said something I hadn't heard of before, so I decided to do some investigating myself, and I found out is sounded really cool and awesome- so I've decided something."

"Oh?" Her mother sounded surprised. "And that is?"

Ash sat up, and took in a deep breath. "I'm going to become a Pokemon Master!"

In the kitchen, Dalia froze while cutting the vegetables, although her daughter didn't notice. Her hands started to tremble as she set the knife in hand, aside. With a shaky voice, mixed with some disbelief, the woman questioned: "a-a Pokemon Master..?"

"Yep!" Her child enthusiastically replied, "I have a whole plan and everythin'! I'll get a Charmander from Professor Oak, train with it really well an-"

Ash's voice faded out of her mother's mind, which was quickly tumbling in on itself. _She was never supposed to learn about that, not now, not ever. Oh god…_ Delia's breathing quickened, and all she could manage at first was a breathless, _"no."_

The blue eyed child was standing now, in the center of the living room, still going talking at the speed of light, arms moving animatedly to express her thoughts. "Then I'll- sorry, didn't catch that, whaddya say?"

With greater boldness, Delia repeated herself. " _ **No."**_

There was a beat of silence. "Why not?"

"Be-because," the woman swallowed, mouth feeling quite dry, "because I said so."

That answer didn't satisfy Ash. But nothing really satisfied her curiosity. "And why's that?"

"You will not." Delia was adamant, ignoring the last query. "You will not. Not now, not in 3 years, not ever. And you will not bring this up again, do you understand me?"

Ash set her jaw, huffed, and stomped up the stairs. Slamming her bedroom door shut, she jumped onto her bed, and crossed her arms. _I can't believe this! It's so unfair!_

* * *

Later that night, their dinner was eaten in silence.

And it all went downhill from there.


	3. 000.3

** **

**000.3, 7 years prior, age 8:**

* * *

 “No! You will never become a Pokemon trainer! I forbi-”

“ _I hate you!_ ” Ash yelled, “ _I wish you weren’t my mom!_ ” She ran out of the house, slamming the front door shut behind her.

Fights like this had been going on occasionally for the past year, after the first conversation about Ash becoming a Pokemon trainer, but never before had it gotten as bad as today…

And she didn’t know if it was the rejection of her dream that made her the most angry, or the not knowing why. Even though they had had about a dozen fights so far, that question was never answered: _“Why not?”_

Being the determined and curious being she was, Ash never let the subject rest for long. When the basic tactic of asking failed, she resorted to a small rebellion of sorts. A type of constant reminder…

Like turning almost every waking moment into something Pokemon or trainer related.

From asking for Pokemon themed sandwiches for lunch because _everyone else has them and they’ll make fun of me_ , to begging for permission to check out _“How to Care for Your Pokemon”_ or _“Kanto: a Traveler’s Guide”_ at the library. Because who would dare tell their child: “No, you can’t read those books,” at a _library?_

Oh yes, Ash was pulling out _all_ the stops.

(Her mom had even went so far as to remove the TV from the house when she started to watch the Pokemon Battle Channel constantly. That night they had a particularly nasty fight. _[She never did say it was a perfect plan, now did she?]_ )

But now all her patience was gone- nothing had worked. She still hadn’t gotten an answer to her long unsolved query. _It’s so unfair,_ the child thought sourly, _everyone else’s parents are proud when they say they want to go on a Pokemon journey. Mine just yells…_

Ash skidded to a halt as she almost ran over a ledge. Huh, she must have run farther than she thought. Blue eyes scanned the horizon, even when they quickly realized where she was: about smack-dab in the middle of route 1. You could tell because of the phenomenal view of the treetops outlining the “perfect” Palette Town, a setting sun as a backdrop.

“It’s so not fair,” the child muttered, stomping lightly at the ground as her anger dissipated by the second, exhaustion setting in. Her shoulders fell, and she sighed, then tilted her head back to gaze at the sky.

In front of her eyes was a canvas of yellows bleeding out into dark oranges, pale clouds lit with light, lazily rolling over a warm white sun. Wind blew from behind, tugging her hair into her field of vision. _It’s nice out_ , Ash decided, a smile tugging at her lips.

The peace, however, was short lived.

A rustle in the distance alerted her to another presence, too big sounding to be any Pokemon found around the area. The 8 year old turned around, feeling a bout of irritation going through her. Had her mom found her already?

But instead of the solitary figure of her mother, two people stumbled out of the foliage, grappling with something between them. An intelligible mess of a conversation filtered into the air, “grrrr’s” and “come on, _come on_ ” thrown in with words her mom told her to never repeat. 

The figures stilled, closing what appeared to be a sac and wrapping a rope around the end.

“Aha! Caught it!” They chorused, hands raising to a high five, the bag falling between them.

“Last one of the day, right?” The taller of the two asked.

“Yep! Boss ‘ll be so proud! We might even get a raise!” The other responded.

“Sweet!” They chorused and high fived again.

Despite standing no more than 20 feet away (6m), neither had managed to notice -or at least acknowledged- her presence. When they started celebrating, dancing around in circles in a happy jig, Ash ignored them for favor of observing the burlap sitting on the ground, watching as it jerked around.

She listened, as suspicious sound filled the air over the chanting of the two strangers. In particular, suspicious chirps; _familiar chirps;_ ** _Pidgey chirps._ ** The iconic bird Pokemon of Kanto in that bag, she just knew it.

 _But why?_ What were these men doing? What was there to gain by capturing a Pidgey in a bag instead of a Pokeball? The blue eyed child shook her head, clearing the questions. Whatever was happening, it didn’t seem good to her. And that was enough for her to start to ask questions, so she took a step forward, and shouted.

“Hey!”

The two black-clad culprits froze in their dance, and spun frantically in the direction of her voice. Once they were facing her, Ash could see that both were in identical clothes: black pants with grey boots, black long sleeve shirt with a red ‘R’ in the center, grey gloves and belt, with a black cap. It was a uniform. 

The comparatively shorter man cursed, while his larger companion followed with a hushed: _“What are we going to do?”_

Ash huffed and crossed her arms, trying to appear as intimidating as she could. Their reactions only reinforced her notion that they were up to no-good; something she _would not_ stand for. Keeping her voice as demanding an 8 year old could, she continued. “What are you doin’ here?”

Both strangers seemed to relax at the sound of her voice. “It’s just a kid,” they muttered, oddly in sync, then stood tall again.

“Scram, kid.” The taller one said, and took a step forward.

“Yeah, beat it.” His associate insisted, and walked just as far, if not a bit more.

The blue eyed child frowned. If there was one thing she had come to hate, were unanswered questions. And if her previous behavior wasn’t a tell of how stubborn she could be, Ash didn’t know what would be. “Nope, I’m not goin’ to. I asked what you were doin’ here, so tell me.”

The taller man strutted forward again, ending up at about 8 feet away, and crossed his arms as well. “Look here little missy, when we tell you to scram, we mean scram!” 

His companion, from behind, piped up. “Yeah!”

Ash uncrossed her arms, and stomped closer to the taller man, just out of his arm reach, glaring up at him. “Yeah, well, I don’t like it when people tell me what to do, so it seems we’re both unhappy here!”

The two glared at each other, locking into a staring contest. And it was he who had blinked first, she having trained up against her arch-nemesis, Gary, when he tried to pick on her at school.

"Yes!" She celebrated and threw her hands up in the air, completely ignoring the situation she was just in previously. It felt very satisfying, as she hadn’t won very many before.

This seemed to anger the man, his face bleeding into furious red. He stalked closer to her, causing Ash to backtrack, closer and closer to the ledge. "I told you to scram!" He snarled, and shoved her shoulder.

Either she was lighter than she thought, or there was quite a lot of force behind that small contact, because the next thing she knew-

-were her legs scrambling to find equilibrium under her as she started tipping backward-

(-her mouth opening into a scream, because _whoarethesepeople_ and because _ohgodI’mfalling_ -)

_-right over the edge._

(As she stared at the sky, feeling gravity take over, Ash hoped that her last words to her mom weren’t those of hate.)

* * *

And then she was awake.

Someone was holding her hand.

 

_...Where am I?_

_...What happened?_

_..Why is it dark?_

 

"Ash?" The grip on her hand grew tighter.

 

_Ash? Is that my name?_

_...Right. It's Ash Ketchum._

 

"Sweetie?"

...It was Mom. It was Mom who was talking.

But where was she?

 "A-are you awake?" There was a small sniffle.

 

 (She breathed in.)

 _"...Wh...Where..?"_ She only managed to whisper.

 "What?"

 

 (Another breath.)

_"...Where..?"_

"You're at the hospital, honey."

" _Wha happen'?_ " Ash slurred slightly.

 

(There was a sharp breath, but not hers.)

"I-is that normal? Th-the memory loss?" Mom asked, her voice shaking.

"Amnesia after a traumatic accident is normal," someone else assured her.

"O-oh... Sweetie, you fell and hit your head really bad. That's why you're here."

 

(...Really? Is that what happened? Why did it feel… wrong?)

But why can't she see?

"'S dark." She slurred again.

"When you fell, you hurt your eyes too," Mom explained.

 

There was some whispering she couldn't hear.

Then Mom continued. "The doctor's taking the bandages off now, okay? So close your eyes."

Ash felt the adhesive being peeled off, and she opened her eyes.

 

 (She couldn't breathe.)

 

_"Why can't I see?"_


	4. 000.4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was thinking that since the "000" chapters are going kind of slow, I would/will continue to post the 10 "000" chapters, but create a second, separate story that will be more fast passed and actually be the story I plan to tell. My intent for the "000" chapters was to set up backstory.

** **

The first month after  _ The Incident _ had been absolutely terrifying. 

The doctor’s knew that blindness was always a possible result, especially from the type of fall she had experienced which mainly injured the back of her brain where the optical centers were located. But brains can heal, and the doctors hoped that she, at the tender age of 8, would have a full recovery.

“It will take a while,” they said, “but hopefully no more than a few weeks.”

And for a while, Ash and Delia believed them. After all, they were medical professionals, right?

And for a while there had been  _ hope _ . Hope that the little Ketchum girl would have her eyesight again, able to run around as freely as she liked (but certainly  _ never _ near that edge  _ ever  _ again.) Hope that their lives could go back to normal, just after a scare. It was there the first week, the second, and even the third. 

One morning, about a month from  _ The Incident _ , the 8 year old got out of her bed and knew something had  **changed** . Quickly, mother and daughter rushed off to Viridian City where the hospital was located. A visit with the ophthalmologist ended with many a tearful and grateful thank you; Ash had her some of her vision back!

No matter how little she could see, no matter how dark her world was, it was _progress_. And so time when on, and it seemed to get better. They went back regularly for vision therapy, and each day Ash could see just a bit better. 

( _...But only in her right eye... _ Was left unsaid.)   _   
_

But as she said, there had  _ been  _ hope. 

One day, the opthamologist sat them down, and told them the bitter truth: it was unlikely that her right eye would ever see again. It seems her luck had run out.

But life went on without a care.

* * *

 

“I’m going for a walk,” she said over her shoulder, tugging on a pair of sandals. 

“Alright, but be back for dark.”  _ And stay safe, and don’t go near  _ **_that_ ** _ ledge _ , was left unsaid.

Ash nodded, stepped out the door, and shut it behind her, before following the rundown dirt path that led out of town to route 1. She knew her mother would prefer she stay home,  _ safe _ , but after the woman also had to suffer being locked in the house for days on end, her position changed to allow for some leniency.

The dirt crunched beneath her soles, as a singular blue eyes danced around the scenery. Her left eye’s vision was actually quite decent, if only a bit dim and blurry. It was hard to believe that only a year ago, she wasn’t so grateful for her sight. Now that she had gone through days of darkness, she never wanted to go through it again. 

The girl paused in her step and sighed, before turning up to the sky.

A frown fixed her face, thoughts wandering into darker places. But Ash turned her gaze back to the ground, and started trudging along, wrapping her arms around her torso as she shivered in her jacket at the now apparent chill. 

On instinct, her legs guided her away from home, as the mind was becoming preoccupied and lost in contemplation.  _ What went wrong in my life? First, my mom wouldn’t -still won’t- let me go on a Pokemon journey, then I lost half of my eyesight…  _

_ Am I just unlucky? Did I pick the short straw?  _

_ It’s not fair... _

Ash paused.  _ Is there even such a thing as fairness? _

Her lips pressed into a thin line, and she tightened her arms around herself as another blast of chilly air hit her from the front, nipping her cheeks. Her eyes watered, and she blinked, and looked up from the ground, now realizing how far she had come.

_ The Ledge. _

Instinctively, she took a step back, her heart stalling before kicking into overdrive.

_ Nonononono,  _ ran through her head. She wasn’t supposed to be  _ here _ . She didn't want to be  _ here _ .  _ Here  _ caused nothing but trouble.  _ Here  _ was what caused her life to be in ruins.  _ Here _ was  **_hell_ ** .

Her legs were trembling, but she couldn’t tell why.

And just like that, a switch was flipped, and she was mad. “It makes no  _ sense! _ ” Ash seethed, “I’m scared of a  _ piece _ of  _ land! _ ” 

The girl huffed, her breath becoming a wispy white as it hit the air. Like her breath in the wind, her anger dissipated, and she quieted. 

“Why did you do this to me, fate?” She whispered, burying her head in her hands, letting her small tears be absorbed by her thin gloves. 

But then the anger bubbled back.

“Why? Why-why-why-why- _ why? _ ” The hands clutching her head flew to her sides, fists balled.

“ **_Why?!_ ** _ Why did this have to happen to me?! _ ” She shouted over the ledge. “Was it because I was being a brat to my mom? Or do you just like messing with people?! Because that's seriously messed up!”

Nothing responded.

Her foot stomped into the ground. “ **_Answer me!_ ** ”

Just as quickly as she shouted, a horribly sharp pain shot through her head, from her eyes to the back of her head. Ash fell to her knees, clutching her temples, scrunching her eyes together on reflex. 

She breathed in the chill air, trying to let it settle her head. On the exhale, the girl hissed. _ “Ow ow ow, _ that hurts!”

She breathed in again, the previous pain leaving a headache, and exhaled. Her blue eyes opened to the view of the ground, as she felt something trickled down from her nose. She brought her right hand to what was there, pulling back to see a small line of red on the fabric. A nose bleed.

Distantly, she noted to throw the pair away when she got home. The girl pushed herself off the earth, and dusted off her pants with her left hand.  _ What was that? _ She wondered. Then she looked up.

“ _ Uhhh… _ ”

And that’s when Ash saw  _ everything _ .

Not just the multi-colored trees, nor the autumn sky, but the family of Rattata in those trees, and the flock of Pidgey soaring above her the air. She could  _ see _ them,  _ at the same time _ , without moving her head.

_ She could see 360°. _

And she didn’t know why.

But she could say how things had changed. The world was grey-shifted, but with tones of vivid color, if only faded by time. As for the Pokemon, it was like each of them had a little sphere of energy in them, and it was like she instinctively knew which species they were- like a 6th sense. 

No, it  _ was _ a 6th sense.

Then Ash blinked, and it was all gone.

She felt her breath leave her, and was tempted to sit on the ground just to still her spinning head. At that point, the headache was gone too, but now her right eye felt really weird. 

She questioned aloud: “ _ What _ was  _ that? _ ”

And there was no answer.

* * *

 

Hands down, her mother’s cooking was the best in town: there was no way this dish sent straight from heaven could be beat. And whoever said you couldn’t have breakfast for dinner was a  _ liar liar pants on fire _ .

A plate of pancakes and Pecha berry sauce could beat any dinner, any day. 

A forkful of food was about to be shoveled into the maw of her appetite, when suddenly,  _ it _ happened again.  _ It _ had happened a few more times after the original incident, with the same ability to see in 360° and sense Pokemon. 

And as  _ it  _ came, followed the pain. 

The utensil formerly in her grip clatters onto her plate, as her right hand comes up to grasp the forehead above her right eye, where the pain was starting to become localized. Quickly, she blinked. It seemed the lapse in vision “reset” her 6th sense from being on. 

Out of her left, Ash saw her mother looked up from a book. 

“Are you okay?” The woman questioned, noticing her daughter’s slight distress.    


“Yea, it’s just my eye,” the girl replied while grimacing, rubbing it lightly. Inwardly, she was concerned.  _ This _ , whatever it was, could not happen again; not in front of her mother. She wasn't exactly sure, but having to explain that you were seeing strange thing to your mother probably didn’t bode well.

Luckily, that was the end of the conversation.

Ash picked up the fork again and continued eating. The plate was cleaned in two minutes flat. She got up, took the white ceramic and the fork, and set them in the sink. Turning around, she hugged her mom from behind. 

“Thanks for the food, mom.”

“You’re welcome, honey.” The mother replied.

The daughter stepped back, before walking to the stairs. “Going to bed,” she explained.

“Good night.” Her mother called out.

“You too.” Ash called back, and took a step onto the stairs. And  _ it _ happened again, worse this time. Almost like the first. The child gave an anguished cry, and fell forward, almost crashing against the stairs but saved herself, collapsing on the stairs anyways.

She barely heard the rapid footsteps of her mother over the pounding of her head, as she pushed herself off the wooden surface. The older woman’s voice broke through the pain.“Ash, what’s wrong?!” 

“ _ My eye, _ ” the child whispered, but her mother seemed to hear her fine.

“Do we need to go to Viridian Hospital?”    


She struggled to speak louder than a whisper, but managed to do so anyways. “No!”

If Ash couldn’t explain any of this to her mother, then she definitely couldn't explain any of this to a doctor. Who knows what they do? Think that she’s mad? Or that she’s suffered more damage to her head then previously thought?  _ Try to take her and experiment on her?! _

“Are you sure?” Mom insisted.

“I’m fine,  _ I’m fine _ .” The girl tried to stress.

“ _ Then what’s wrong? _ ”

The stress had gotten to her now, and that was the point when her resolve broke. 

“I-I don’t know- one day I get this really bad headache then the next thing I know I’m seeing these strange things, a-and all this other stuff, and I don’t know _ but it's really freaking me out-- _ ”

“--Ash, I don’t know what you’re saying--”

“-- _ and I can’t explain it but Ithinksomething’swrongwithmeand-- _ ” She was hysterical by this point.

Hands were gripping her shoulders now. “Ash, listen to me,  _ listen to me _ ,  **_calm down_ ** .”

The aforementioned child took in a deep breath, but more for the lack of oxygen than her mother’s wishes. She breathed out, trying to hold back a sob, tears still tracking down her cheeks.

Her mother continued. “Now what did you say?”

The girl took in another breath. “I’m… seeing these things…”

Her mother stilled, but went on. “Things like… the spirits of Pokemon?”

“H-how did you know?” 

Delia opened her mouth, but couldn’t find any words to say on the matter. She sighed. “Brush your teeth and go to bed. We’ll talk in the morning.”

Ash managed to nod her head, even though it was still in whirl of motion. Robotically, she did what she was told.

On the other hand, Delia sat on the living room couch, and thought.  _ This is going to be hard to explain _ .


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very very minor OC: like, he won't ever be used again. He's only used for textual purposes. 
> 
> And, I'm trying dramatic irony! Also, a hint to Ash's family's history!

** **

**000.5, 5 years prior, age 10:**

Ash felt the cool temperature of the glass against her head, as she leaned against the window of her room, watching the events unfold outside. It was April 1st, and if you had been alive and in Kanto for the past 20 odd some years, you would know what that meant.

The start of trainer season. 

Beyond the clear barrier that separated the two worlds was Gary Oak, sitting in a red convertible, from a brand she had never bothered to learn the name of. Surrounding the car, were his numerous fangirls. How her childhood bully managed that, she had no clue.

To his credit, after _The Incident,_ the boy took the teasing down a few notches, and never even mentioned her eye. Apparently, even he had limits.     

Through the glass, she could hear cheering as the automobile drove off, and saw Gary wave at the remaining crowd, a chauffeur at the wheel. No matter what though, he still gloated his family's wealth. It was his father’s money, not the Professor’s, which many people assumed.

Yes, Pokemon Professors got a decent sum of money each year from various governments, charities, and foundations, but a large part of that went to the upkeep of research and space-- not personal enjoyment.

It was the Professor's son, Jospeh, if she remembered correctly, that held the wealth. He had a knack for finding up and coming businesses to buy stock from and invest into. But with everything involving the economy, people tended to forget that.

The Oak family was rooted in success, it seemed. Perhaps Gary would be no different

Ash tore her eyes away from the outside world, and tried to focus back onto her book. Since she had not gone on a Pokemon journey, back to school she was headed. In her lap was a textbook for the coming year. It was dreadfully boring.

Blue eyes traced the words on the page, but nothing seemed to register.

 _I would’ve gotten a Charmander_ , she thought.

That had been her plan. Her wish. Her dreams. Not that they would ever happen. Not now, anyways. All because of a _stupid_ accident that costed her one of her eyes. Had she been anyone else, she would have said it wasn’t fair. But she had left any idea of fairness behind long ago.

Although it raised many questions when her 6th sense started to appear. Was it that in exchange for her normal eyesight, she had gotten something else in return? Then when her mom discovered her ability, Ash finally got some answers. And boy, that had been a weird conversation, to say the least.

After a chaotic dinner, she woke up the next morning with her head still spinning, but relatively calmer than before. Walking down the stairs, her mother was cooking breakfast, and it looked like she hadn’t slept a wink. Over a plate of eggs, they talked.

To sum up many awkward pauses and half-started explanations:

_“So this thing that’s going on with my eye, isn’t just a freak thing of nature?”_

_“No, no, it not that. It’s kind of hard to explain, but… other members of my family have had the same ability.”_

_“Your family?”_

_“...Yes.”_

_“You’ve never mentioned them before.”_

_“That’s because… Because it’s hard.”_

_The subject was promptly dropped._

By the end of it all, Ash had learned that meditation and practice, no matter how cliche it sounded, was the key to controlling her new ability. After picking up books on techniques of mental focus from the library, it had started to help.

And she had never brought up the subject of her mother’s family ever again. The immense look of long buried sorrow on her mother’s face was enough to send that idea to it’s grave. Days passed, and the both of them seemed to forget that spontaneous discussion started nights prior to the best of their ability. And for that, the girl was grateful.

But back to now. A now where she couldn’t focus on her textbook to save her life. It was was dreadfully boring.

Not that the subject itself was bad; on the contrary, geography was an interest of hers. She had stumbled across the subject while trying to get ready for--

Ash slammed the hardcover book together, and tossed it aside. Spending time on something she already knew was just wasted effort.

The wooden floor was cold against her feet, as she stood off of her couch and shuffled out of her room then into the hallway. The rest of the house was cold too, causing her to shiver as she walked down the stairs.

It was nearing lunch and she hadn’t had much of a breakfast, so she was getting hungry.

And really, who could resist her mother’s cooking? She made the best grilled cheeses.

* * *

A sliver of moonlight filtered through the window, its curtains drawn to the side to show a dark night sky, a quarter-moon afixed there. 

Ash was curled up in 3 layers of blankets, trying to conserve as much body heat as possible. She really hated the type of temperature where you couldn’t wear a winter jacket without overheating, or anything thinner without still being cold. Didn’t help much that the chill basically passed right through her.

 _Must be a family thing,_ the girl though as she shivered, _mom says the same stuff._

She hadn't been able to go to bed. Her mind was to muddled with thought to settle down and try to sleep. The day’s events had left her in a mental tailspin-- it wasn’t fun dredging up ideas of what could have been.

Ash sat up in her bed and pulled the blankets around her like a shawl. She fumbled for her bedside light.

_If I can’t sleep, I mind as well read._

Her finger found the switch on the base of the lamp, and she pressed it to the other position. The room was filled with light for a moment, then there was a spark and everything flashed back into darkness. 

The light bulb had burnt out.

The girl groaned in defeat: it seemed the world had it out for her today. She flipped the switch to the other side.

Almost unwillingly, Ash gathered the blankets around like a cocoon of salvation against the cold world, put on some slippers, and got out of bed. She flipped on the overhead light for her room, then headed out into the hallway.

The bedroom light illuminated her way to the closet at the end of the hall, where she knew the spare light bulbs were kept. Her hand grasped the cold doorknob, and opened the space. The girl stretched on her feet to reach the item located on the second highest shelf.

She managed to grasp a box, but when trying take it off the shelf she accidently hit something else, causing it to fall. Whatever it was, hit the ground with a muted thud. Hopefully her mom didn’t hear that.

Ash searched for the lightswitch that was located on the wall next to the closet with her right hand. With her one blind eye and a subsequent poor field of vision, she would need the hall light to see what actually fell. 

Once found, she flicked the switch, and luckily this light didn’t burn out on her-- _that_ would have been a pain. (And hopefully her mom didn’t see that either.) Now she could see the scattered mess below her. She set the lightbulb down.

Ash crouched to investigate further, her blanket-cocoon brushing against the ground, and saw what appeared to be a collection of envelopes and letters. At the apex of the clutter was an old cardboard box on its side, a few pieces of paper in it’s depths. The container wasn’t that big, only about the width and length of a paperback novel.

The girl gathered the disarrayed objects, and placed them back in the uprighted bin. She could feel the layer of dust that had accumulated on the pieces, and dusted her hands off. Out of curiosity, she grabbed one of the remaining envelopes on the floor and looked at the sender and receiver address.

_“To Delia”_

It read, with large cursive letters. It wasn’t anyone’s handwriting she recognized, though she only really knew her mother’s, and her own. The capital “T” was written with a flourish that underlined the rest of the address.

But a few things were odd. For one, it wasn’t really an address. It was just her mom’s first name, but no last one, no house number, street name, or town, nor a return address. The only way her mom could have gotten this was in person, or if someone placed it in her mail box directly

And secondly, it was written to her _mom_ . Her own _mother._

They never got any mail! Ash didn’t even know why they even had a mailbox-- it was rare they ever got anything. So what could this be? And what would be so important that it was kept stowed away?

Her left hand opened the envelope’s flap, and pulled out its folded up contents. The paper was a stark white, untouched by the passage of time, probably like the day it was written. She moved to unfold the paper, but stalled.

Her mom didn’t look into her stuff, at least as much as she could tell. Wouldn’t it be wrong to do the same? And it kinda seemed like it was something personal too. She wouldn’t want someone to look into her things like that.

(Something echoed in her mind:

_“You’ve never mentioned them before.”_

_“That’s because… Because it’s hard.”_ )

Ash put the letter back into its place, closed the envelope, and set it into the box. _It’s not my place,_ she thought, and grabbed the bin. She slid the container back onto the second highest shelf with some difficulty.

With the blankets still slung around her shoulders, the girl bent down to grab the single light bulb container. _All this effort for a such a little thing_ , she mused and switched off the hallway light. She really did hope her mother hadn’t been awake for all that commotion.

Turning around back to her room, she was surprised to see _another_ envelope, this time illuminated by the light of her bedroom. The slipper-clad child walked over, and picked up the package of paper.

Ash yawned and felt her eyes droop closed. _I’m so tired..._

Blue orbs forced themselves open, then the girl walked back into her room. The light bulb container was set on the desk, and with blurry eyes she stared at the object in hand. _Is it worth trying to put this back right now?_ She assessed.

Another yawn. _Nah..._

“I’ll deal with this tomorrow,” she muttered sleepily.

The room was soon bathed into darkness, and the girl collapsed into an exhausted heap of a person on her bed. The letter slipped out from her grasp, and fell into the realm of forgotten things beneath her bed.

And her midnight ruse was forgotten by daylight.

* * *

 On the other side of the envelope, in the same handwriting as before, unseen, were the words:  

  
_“To My Child”_


End file.
